Politics | Ground Zero mosque C'mon, Obama: Be Moral, Not 'Clintonesque' We expected more from this 'paragon of high principle' By John Johnson Posted Aug 18, 2010 12:41 PM CDT Copied President Obama gestures while talking about the economy, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) So President Obama appears to support the Ground Zero mosque and then weasels out of it with a lawyerly explanation that was downright "Clintonesque," writes Maureen Dowd. The thing is, we never expected Bill Clinton to be the nation's "moral guide." When he equivocated, it was Clinton being Clinton. "But Obama presents himself as a paragon of high principle," she writes in the New York Times. "So when he flops around on things like 'don’t ask, don’t tell' or shrinks back from one of his deepest beliefs about the freedom of religion anywhere and everywhere in America, it’s not pretty. Even worse, this is the man who staked his historical reputation on a new and friendlier engagement with the Muslim world." Instead we get "moral timidity." Read These Next It's the most modern of insults: Clanker. You can't just unleash bees on cops without consequences. She tried to save a chimp from the 'evil clutches of PETA.' Why Winston Churchill never got his platypus. Report an error